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  • #2176219

    NTLDR is missing

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    by hefty10 ·

    Hello
    I recently upgraded a friend’s PC by installing more RAM and a second hard drive as she needed more room and power.I installed XP as she had been using 98 and needed to upgrade the OS.It was set up and working fine so I rang her and told her I would drop it around the next day.I thought one more check so I turned it on and then all the troubles started.It came up with a screen saying files were missing (I think from config.sys,sorry I did not think to write it down at the time)
    So it would not boot into windows.It did this a couple of times earlier when I first installed it after the upgrade,but it seemed to be OK after eveything was installed and running properly.When I was letting it format the drive again, a few times the power flicked on and off.I do not think it was a power surge from the mains as nothing else has been affected.
    Now when I try to boot the PCV it comes up with the message NTLDR is missing and will not go any further other than ctrl alt del to restart,but it only comes back to the message.The PC originally had a P111 663cpu 128 mb 133 SDRAM and 10 gb HDD.It now has the same CPU, 384mb 133 SDRAM and a 40 gb and 10 gb HDD.
    I originally left the 10gb HDD as the master so all the programs could be installed on it and leave the 40 gb for her home movies.
    I have tried swapping the HDD’s as master and slave,as cable select,on their own,etc.Could someone please tell me is the motherboard dying,does it need a flash or some other problem I do not know about?Any help greatly appreciated
    Thanks
    Steve

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    • #3348864

      Reply To: NTLDR is missing

      by glyall ·

      In reply to NTLDR is missing

      download a diagnostics software
      run it to see if you are having hardware problems

      IBM has diagnostic software but it is only for IBM PCs
      Other PC makers do have diagnostic program that you can download form them.
      Also some harddrive maker has a drive fitness program

      if the 10gb drive is your master it might be dying.

      good luck

    • #3348836

      Reply To: NTLDR is missing

      by queen1 ·

      In reply to NTLDR is missing

      This link should answer and show yo hat to do.
      Good luck
      http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

    • #3349664

      Reply To: NTLDR is missing

      by douglasb ·

      In reply to NTLDR is missing

      This link will give you some solutions:
      http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

    • #3349647

      Reply To: NTLDR is missing

      by craig_eights ·

      In reply to NTLDR is missing

      Eurosoft Pc-Check is a Diagnostic tool you can use to check all hardware to minimize troubleshooting to pinpoint the problem. You can get the software at http://www.eurosoft-us.com
      Craig.

    • #3349540

      Reply To: NTLDR is missing

      by willcomp ·

      In reply to NTLDR is missing

      Computer Hope article is a good reference. However something in system is not stable and is causing problems when installing XP.

      It can be difficult to pin down an exact cause. In your case the primary suspects are RAM and hard disk in that order.

      Remove RAM you added and see what happens. Low quality memory is especially prone to cause problems. Also your older system may not play well with high density PC133 SDRAM.

      Dalton

    • #3349483

      Reply To: NTLDR is missing

      by sgt_shultz ·

      In reply to NTLDR is missing

      i would try to get that pc on a battery. i would try to boot the pc with the XP setup cd in the drive. sometimes if ntldr is all that is missing (sounds like there is more) then it will find the file there (on the cd) and boot up or at least move on to the next error message.
      my vote is this is caused by corruption of the hd due to these problems with power. i do not think your problem indicates a bad motherboard. maybe the power supply cannot deal with the marginal conditions on your ‘main’. can you take this pc to another location and see if the problems follow the pc.
      once you get the power fluctuations to stop, which hopefully means the drive corruption will stop, run some diagnostics on the hd. try to get them from mfg website. if they give drive good bill of health then you can decide how to deal with the corrupted system files. first think to try is chkdks /f from the recovery console.
      if reinstalling is not too painful sounding that might be quickest. otherwise you can post the exact errors you are getting and we can walk you thru perhaps repairing. if lucky, maybe chkdsk will find and fix the corruption. that would be mightly lucky indeed
      if you want, try booting from xp setup cds just as if you were going to reinstall. let it run setup. it will examine the hd and find your xp installation (if it is not too blown up) and offer to repair it. try that…
      otherwise you need to use the Recovery Console to access your drive and replace the missing/corrupted files.

    • #3348265

      Reply To: NTLDR is missing

      by wlbowers ·

      In reply to NTLDR is missing

      If the computer was reading or writing from/to the hard drive when the ac waffled you could have either corrupted data or even damaged the hard drive.

      Try the drives as a slave on a different computer.

      Do you have a bootable diagnostic program.

      Even if you don’t plan on working on computers you need a dos bootable diagnostic program. This allows you to dake your machine down to basic operation, and test everything.

      I use an old one called Troubleshooter.

      Good Luck Lee

      There are a lot of them out there both free and for a small fee.

    • #3333401

      Reply To: NTLDR is missing

      by hefty10 ·

      In reply to NTLDR is missing

      This question was closed by the author

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